Vinícius Oliveira Franco, or simply Vinícius (born May 16, 1986) is a Brazilian footballer who plays for

Nea Salamina Nea Salamis Famagusta or Nea Salamina Famagusta ( el, Νέα Σαλαμίνα Αμμοχώστου) is a Cypriot sports club based in Ammochostos (also known by its romanized name, Famagusta), Cyprus. The club is named after Salamis (or Salam ...

in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Portugal

Vinícius moved abroad for the first time in 2004 to join Portuguese club

FC Porto B Futebol Clube do Porto B, commonly known as Porto B, is a Portuguese professional football team, which serves as the reserve side of FC Porto. They compete in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese football, and play their home ...

. During his eight-year spell in Portugal he played also for C.D. Nacional,

União da Madeira União is the Portuguese word for Union. It may refer to: *the Brazilian federal government *União do Vegetal, a church known for its usage of Hoasca as tea * Brazilian frigate ''União'' (F45), a general-purpose ''Niterói'' class frigate launc ...

, C.D. Aves, S.C. Olhanense,

S.C. Braga Sporting Clube de Braga () (), commonly known as Sporting de Braga or just Braga, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Braga. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese ...

and Moreirense.

APOEL

On 10 July 2013, after eight seasons in the Portuguese leagues, Vinícius signed a two-year contract with

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

from

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

. He made his official debut on 17 August 2013 against Apollon Limassol in the

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is u ...

final, in a match which APOEL won 1–0 and lifted the trophy. He scored his first official goal for APOEL on 2 September 2013, in his team's 3–0 home win against

Enosis Neon Paralimni Enosis Neon Paralimni Football Club ( el, Ένωση Νέων Παραλιμνίου, ''Enosi Neon Paralimniou'', "Youth Union of Paralimni"), commonly referred to as ENP, is a Cypriot football team from Paralimni. Currently playing in the fi ...

for the

. During the 2013–14 season, he appeared in all six 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage matches for APOEL and also managed to win all the titles in Cyprus, the

Cypriot League The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

, the

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

and the

. On 20 August 2014, Vinícius scored the equalizer against

Aalborg BK Aalborg Boldspilklub is a Danish sports club based in the city of Aalborg. The club is also known as AaB for short (cf. logo) or Aalborg BK. Through time the club has had branches in cricket, tennis, ice hockey, handball, and basketball, but cur ...

Nordjyske Arena Aalborg Stadium (Danish: Aalborg Stadion; currently known as Aalborg Portland Park for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium located in Aalborg, Denmark. It is the home ground of AaB. It has a capacity of 14,135 of which 8,997 is seated. Fo ...

, in APOEL's 1–1 first leg draw for the

play-off round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. On 26 August 2014, he scored again in the return leg against

, helping his team to win 4–0 and reach the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

of the

. Vinícius appeared in every group stage match in APOEL's

2014–15 UEFA Champions League The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League was the 60th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pl ...

campaign. On 6 December 2014, Vinícius signed a two-year contract extension with APOEL, running until June 2017. On 15 September 2016, he scored the equalizer in APOEL's 2–1 home victory over

FC Astana Astana Football Club ( kk, Astana Futbol Kluby) is a professional football club based in Astana. They play in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Kazakh football. The club's home ground is the 30,254-seat Astana Arena stadium. ...

for the

of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

. On 19 May 2017, Vinícius signed a two-year contract extension with APOEL, running until June 2019.

Olympiakos Nicosia

On 5 September 2019 he signed for

Olympiakos Nicosia Olympiakos Nicosia ( el, Ολυμπιακός Λευκωσίας, ''Olympiakos Lefkosias'') is a football club based in Nicosia, Cyprus and competes in the Cypriot First Division. The club was founded in 1931, and is a founding member of the C ...

Career statistics

Honours

;

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17 *

: 2013–14, 2014–15 *

: 2013

References

External links

APOEL official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vinicius 1986 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Primeira Liga players Persian Gulf Pro League players Cypriot First Division players FC Porto B players C.D. Nacional players C.F. União players C.D. Aves players S.C. Olhanense players S.C. Braga players Moreirense F.C. players APOEL FC players Sanat Naft Abadan F.C. players Olympiakos Nicosia players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Iran Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Footballers from Campo Grande